Refurbishing My 1893 Parker DH and add on Vulcan Steel Barrels

[Elvin Ehrhardt]

Well guys, the refurbishing is completed on my old Parker Brothers DH. I’m really pleased with how well it turned out. Stock stripped, sanded, re-checkered, and re-finished, receiver stripped down, cleaned and polished. I found an old VH grade Parker that was in bad shape, but the Vulcan fluid steel barrels were in good shape, they were the same frame size and luckily fit my receiver like a glove. So, I sanded, polished and re-blued them for use with my DH. I decided to take a leap of faith and refurbish the Damascus barrels myself. I used the Mark Lee slow Rust solution and followed through to boiling, and carding process several times and then used the Ferric Chloride to etch the barrels like is normally done. However, I tried another process after the etching that I picked up while researching methods of refinishing Damascus. Following the Ferric Chloride etching I cleaned the residue off with 0000 steel wool and acetone followed by a warm water rinse. Then a submerged the plugged barrels in a strong solution of hot instant coffee (Mix of 1 cup instant coffee to 2 cups distilled water). The barrels were left in that solution overnight and the next morning rinsed, dried and then oiled inside and out, followed by a complete Waxing with Renaissance Wax which was polished after drying. The color shade is lighter but, it looks very good. This coffee process is used by a large number of Damascus knife makers in the same way. I am pleased with the refurbishing, and I think it looks close to when it left the factory in 1893. I did learn one thing for sure, completely stripping down and reassembling one of these old Parker guns is not for the faint of heart! Lol! Having seen this old double from inside and out, I’m amazed at the artistic craftsmanship of the Parker’s. Considering the limited tools, they had to work with back then and intricacy of these receivers, I’m convinced that Parker’s work force was truly some of the finest shotgun craftsmen in the world. I am proud to own this Parker and I have already purchased another which won't likely be my last.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Nicely done Elvin, what gauge is it?

[john pulis]

Very nice. Congrats.

[Drew Hause]

Nice contrast on the Parker D4 4 Iron "Turkish" barrels Elvin

[Elvin Ehrhardt]

Thanks guys. Yes it’s a 12 gauge. The fluid steel barrels have 2 3/4” chambers and the Damascus barrels have 2 5/8” chambers, but I have fitted the Damascus barrels with a set of Chaszel 28” 20 gauge adapter tubes. This allows the use of any modern 20 gauge shells in this beautiful old gun. I chose Chaszel over Briley because unlike Briley who makes their tubes from aluminum, Chaszel uses high tensile steel. A few ounces heavier but they handle both lead and steel shot. I have test fired the 20 ga tubes and they pattern very well. As for the type of Damascus, I’m far from a Damascus expert, so whether it’s D4 Damascus I’m not sure, but I did notice that the pattern seems to be very much tighter than others I’ve seen before. Another factor was the amount of time needed in the Ferric Chloride to etch the pattern. Most Damascus refinishers recommend only 30 to 45 seconds in the etching solution. That didn’t work for mine. It took a full 2 minutes before the Damascus pattern became visible and even then it was very light. It wasn’t until the hot coffee bath over night when it darkened the patterns. From what I’ve read it seems that the acidity of the coffee attaches to the freshly etched steel but not the iron thereby enhancing the pattern.